Cool cocktail collections in Bangkok to celebrate with

With no shortage of fabulous cocktails available across Bangkok, it’s hard to settle on just one drink. As bars around the city are gearing up for fresh starts and also launching new menus, now’s the time to skip the old-fashioned classics and treat your tastebuds to some playful concoctions. Ring in the new year with these tipples that have a striking concept or story behind them.

1. Lennon’s

Rosewood Bangkok’s vinyl bar Lennon’s is making tangible and striking strides when it comes to sustainability. In fact, they are the first hotel in Bangkok to partner with ecoSPIRITS, a company that eliminates glass and cardboard packaging waste by working directly with spirit brands. High-end spirits are filled into reusable ecoTOTES containers instead of glass bottles, all which can be returned, sanitized, sealed and redistributed to bars and restaurants. It’s a cost-effective and trash-reducing progress for both parties, as each ecoTOTE can hold 4.5 liters – that’s sure to decrease the number of glass bottles that usually end up in landfills.

To complement this new initiative, a menu of four ecoCOCKTAILS have just been unveiled. The red ecoMALI is made with Champagne that has gone flat, but is mixed with raspberries and re-carbonated for new lease of life. This tangy delight gets its sweet smell of jasmine flowers from the local Kosapan Botanicals rum. As som means orange in Thai, ecoSOM offers a citrusy note with Kosapan’s Orange Liquor, with a touch of lacto-fermented mango honey that extends the mangoes’ shelf life. Another fun (and Earth-loving) part of this collection is how you can take the cocktail menus home. Printed on compostable paper and embedded with flower seeds, guests can plant it in soil and look forward to seeing what flora will come up.

2. Playroom

To celebrate its second anniversary, the sexy Ekamai speakeasy Playroom has just unveiled a new menu that movie buffs will love, titled “Playroom Chapter 3.” Sidestepping away from the 50 Shades of Grey roots that the bar’s red interiors were inspired by, the new lineup of cocktails lets you taste other rom-com or drama flicks by embodying aspects of a popular scene from a movie, the famous leading character and its memorable storyline. The nine new cocktail creations draw from all-time favorite movies, be it Brokeback Mountain, The Girl Next Door to Thai period drama Jan Dara.

Start out light and bright and perhaps get discreetly personal with your companion when mentioning the cocktail Virgin Or Not? Inspired by the movie Wedding Crashers, the umeshu-based and absinthe drink gets a heady kick from the aromatic oba leaf. For a heavier hit and some American Pie fun, order Steve for its bitter palate made from Bulleit Bourbon, Laphroaig 10, Spicy Campari, Merlot syrup, apricot, lemon and seltzer.

3. Untitled

The folks who have turned Soi Nana into a hip drinking spot have just opened their fifth and newest bar at Thong Lo. Untitled is their largest creation yet, as it’s sprawled over three floors of three shophouses. It’s just like the crew to make cheeky comments on societal inequalities, so it’s not surprising that the bar’s interiors are decked out luxuriously while the outside resembles a pawn shop.

The drinks follow through in that same manner of contrasts and sarcasm. They’ve whipped up six soft-launch cocktails with unheard-of combinations that taste a lot better than you’d imagine. AFS gives a quirky spin on the Scotch whisky-based highball with its garnish of fish sauce-compressed apple slices. Yes, you read that right, fish sauce. If you like lassi and Indian flavors, try My Ghee My Choice. Where else would you find a fruity and rich cocktail where gin and Madeira wine comes together with sour yogurt and ghee (Indian clarified butter)?

4. The St. Regis Bar

Can’t fly to the Big Apple just yet? Make do with Bangkok’s most emblematic symbol of New York at The St. Regis Bar. Their newly appointed bar manager, Volkan Ibil, presents a collection of 40 cocktails that revisit the legends and boroughs surrounding St. Regis New York, as well as a new bar program. To recreate the glamor of drinking at the original House of Astor, the Violet Hour is now a daily ritual you’ll find at St. Regis Bangkok. When the sky turns into a lovely purple from 7.30pm onwards, expect to see martini-throwing theatrics by Volkan and other talented bartenders.

Match the hour with its namesake drink, the Violet Hour Martini. It’s just the thing to help you transition from day to evening, with its sophisticated mix of gin, aromatized wine, orange and violet liqueurs. The show of throwing cocktails is also a marvel to watch. To go on an adventure that pays homage to H.M.S. Hussar’s journey from East River through the treacherous waters of Hell’s Gate, order The Hell Gate Hussar’s Fortune. Bourbon, Amaro, herbal liqueur and hazelnut liqueur capture both a bittersweet and adventurous taste of what it must have felt like to be aboard that doomed ship.

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